Larus leucophthalmus

• Overview
• Interesting Facts
• Common Names
• Description
• Taxonomy
• Similar Species
• More Info
• Further Reading
• Notes

Overview

Near Threatened

Interesting Facts

Common Names

Click on the language to view common names.

Description

Habitat

Ecology: Behaviour This species is mostly sedentary7,8, although it disperses from its breeding sites to occur throughout the Red Sea during the non-breeding season9. There may also be some southward and eastward movement during this time, when it is reported to become scarce in the northern part of its range8. Breeding takes place during the months of June - August, extending to September in Egypt8. It breeds in loose colonies, usually consisting of fewer than 25 pairs, though occasionally larger colonies of hundreds of individuals are known to occur7. During the non-breeding season it is usually found in small groups, but sometimes forms flocks of hundreds or even thousands to forage7. Habitat The species is mainly coastal. It usually feeds at sea6, but some Egyptian populations have adopted a scavenging role at rubbish tips and harbours3. Breeding It breeds on inshore islands, where it occupies bare rock and sand flats7. Non-breeding Outside the breeding season it often occurs further out to sea7. It roosts on rocks, coral reefs, piers and fishing vessels7. Diet The diet consists largely of fish, but also includes crustaceans, molluscs , annelids and offal6,7. Fish species taken in Egypt include Scarpus species about 110mm in length8. It also feeds on fruits and plants such as Nitraria retusa8, and is known to predate the eggs and nestlings of the Lesser Crested Tern Sterna bengalensis8. It scavenges in the northern part of its range , but to a lesser extent than does L. hemprichii with which it often associates7,8. Breeding Site Nests occur on bare rock, sand or exposed flats7. On sandy substrates the nest consists of a conspicuous ring of twigs , seaweed and debris8. On rocky islands it consists of a small pad of vegetable matter beside rocks8. It may alternatively consist of a scrape among impenetrable Euphorbia clumps8. It lays two or three eggs7.

[1].

List of Habitats:

•     9     Marine Neritic   
  
•     9.1     Marine Neritic - Pelagic   
  
•     9.2     Marine Neritic - Subtidal Rock and Rocky Reefs   
  
•     9.3     Marine Neritic - Subtidal Loose Rock/pebble/gravel   
  
•     9.4     Marine Neritic - Subtidal Sandy   
  
•     9.5     Marine Neritic - Subtidal Sandy-Mud   
  
•     9.7     Marine Neritic - Macroalgal/Kelp   
  
•     9.9     Marine Neritic - Seagrass (Submerged)   
  
•     12     Marine Intertidal   
  
•     12.1     Marine Intertidal - Rocky Shoreline   
  
•     12.2     Marine Intertidal - Sandy Shoreline and/or Beaches, Sand Bars, Spits , Etc   
  
•     12.3     Marine Intertidal - Shingle and/or Pebble Shoreline and/or Beaches   
  
•     12.6     Marine Intertidal - Tidepools   
  
•     13     Marine Coastal/Supratidal   
  
•     13.1     Marine Coastal/Supratidal - Sea Cliffs and Rocky Offshore Islands   
[more info]

Taxonomy

Notes

Name Status: Accepted Name .

Last scrutiny: 17-Oct-2001

Similar Species

Members of the genus Larus

ZipcodeZoo has pages for 83 species and subspecies in this genus:

L. argentatus (Herring Gull) · L. argentatus argentatus (Herring Gull) · L. armenicus (Armenian Gull) · L. atlanticus (OlrogÌs Gull) · L. atricilla (Laughing Gull) · L. atricilla atricilla (Laughing Gull) · L. audouinii (AudouinÌs Gull) · L. belcheri (Band Tailed Gull) · L. belcheri belcheri (Band-Tailed Gull) · L. brachyrhynchus (Mew Gull) · L. brevirostris (Red-Legged Kittiwake) · L. brunnicephalus (Indian Black-Headed Gull) · L. bulleri (Black-Billed Gull) · L. cachinnans (Caspian Gull) · L. californicus (Californian Gull) · L. californicus albertaensis (Light-Mantled California Gull) · L. californicus californicus (Dark-Mantled California Gull) · L. canus (Common Kamchatka Gull) · (Mew Gull) · L. canus canus (Mew Gull) · L. canus heinei (Mew Gull) · (Eastern Common Gull) · L. cirrocephalus (Grey-Hooded Gull) · L. cirrocephalus cirrocephalus (Gray-Headed Gull) · L. crassirostris (Black-Tailed Gull) · L. delawarensis (Ring-Bill Gull) · L. dominicanus (Southern Black-Backed Gull) · L. dominicanus dominicanus (Southern Black-Backed Gull) · L. eburnea (Ivory Gull) · L. fuliginosus (Dusky Gull) · L. furcatus (Swallow-Tailed Gull) · L. fuscus (Lesser Black-Backed Gull) · L. fuscus fuscus (Lesser Black-Backed Gull) · L. fuscus graellsii (Lesser Black-Backed Gull) · L. genei (Slender-Billed Gull) · L. glaucescens (Glaucous-Winged Gull) · L. glaucoides (White-Winged Gull) · L. glaucoides glaucoides (Iceland Gull) · L. glaucoides kumlieni (Iceland Gull) · L. glaucoides thayeri (Iceland Gull) · L. hartlaubii (Hartlaub's Gull) · (White-Headed Gull) · L. hemprichii (Hemprich's Gull) · L. hyperboreus (White-Winged Gull) · L. hyperboreus barrovianus (Glaucous Gull) · L. hyperboreus hyperboreus (Glaucous Gull) · L. ichthyaetus (Great Black-Headed Gull) · L. kumlieni (Kumlien's Gull) · L. leucophthalmus (White-Eyed Gull) · L. livens (Yellow-Footed Gull) · L. maculipennis (Brown-Hooded Gull) · L. marinus (Greater Black-Backed Gull) · L. melanocephalus (Mediterranean Gull) · L. michahellis (Yellow-Legged Gull) · L. minutus (Little Gull) · L. modestus (Grey Gull) · L. novaehollandiae (Silver Gull) · L. novaehollandiae novaehollandiae (Silver Gull) · L. occidentalis (Wyman's Gull) · L. occidentalis livens (Western Gull) · L. occidentalis occidentalis (Western Gull) · L. occidentalis wymani (Western Gull) · L. pacificus (Large-Billed Gull) · L. pacificus pacificus (Pacific Gull) · L. philadelphia (Bonaparte's Rosy Gull) · L. pipixcan (Francolin's Rosy Gull) · L. relictus (Relict Gull) · L. ridibundus (Common Black-Headed Gull) · L. ridibundus ridibundus (Black-Headed Gull) · L. rosea (Ross' Gull) · L. sabini (Sabine's Gull) · L. sabini sabina (Sabine's Gull) · L. sabini woznesenskii (Sabine's Gull) · L. saundersi (Chinese Black-Headed Gull) · L. schistisagus (Slaty-Backed Gull) · L. scopulinus (Red-Billed Gull) · L. scoresbii (Magellan Gull) · L. serranus (Andean Gull) · L. thayeri (Iceland Gull) · L. tridactyla (Black-Legged Kittiwake) · L. tridactyla pollicaris (Black-Legged Kittiwake) · L. tridactyla tridactyla (Black-Legged Kittiwake) · L. vetula (Cape Gull)

More Info

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Further Reading

• 1994 IUCN red list of threatened animals Gland, Switzerland: IUCN, 1993 url p. 46.
• A handbook to the birds of Egypt, by G.E. Shelley. London: John Van Voorst, 1872. url p. 308.
• A history of the birds of Europe, not observed in the British Isles / by C. R. Bree. London: G. Bell & Sons, 1875-1876. url p. 164, p. 67.
• A history of the birds of Europe: including all the species inhabiting the western palaearctic region / London: Published by the Author, 1871-1881. url , , p. 356.
• Catalogue of birds of the Americas and the adjacent islands in Field Museum of Natural History. Charles E. Hellmayr, Boardman Conover. 13 1948 Chicago: Field Museum of Natural History, 1948. url p. 253.
• Catalogue of the Birds in the British Museum. London, 1874-98. url p. 181, p. 219.
• Catalogue of the genera and subgenera of birds contained in the British Museum. London, Printed by order of the Trustees, 1855. url p. 130.
• Check-list of birds of the world. Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1931-1987. url p. 314.
• Coral Reefs of the World. url p. 59, p. 72.
• Guide to the birds of Europe and North Africa. With a biographical memoir by William Eagle Clarke. London, Gurney and Jackson, 1923. url p. 305.
• Handlist of the birds of Egypt by M.J. Nicoll. Cairo, Government Press, 1919. url p. 110.
• Ibis. [London]Published for the British Ornithologists' Union by Academic Press. url p. 129, p. 349, p. 350, p. 396, p. 403, p. 819.
• List of the specimens of birds in the collection of the British Museum. London: Printed by the order of the Trustees, 1848-1856. url p. 171.
• Observations on the geology and zoology of Abyssinia, made during the progress of the British expedition to that country in 1867-68. London, Macmillan and co., 1870. url .
• On a collection of birds from North-Eastern Abyssinia and the Bogos Country / London: Zoological Society of London, 1870. url .
• Ornithological & other oddities, Frank Finn. .. late deputy superintendent of the Indian museum, Calcutta; with fifty-six illustrations reproduced from photographs. London, J. Lane1907. url p. 236.
• Revue méthodique et critique des collections déposées dans cet établissement. Leyden, Rijksmuseum van Natuurlijke Historie. url p. 32.
• Savage Sudan; its wild tribes, big-game and bird-life, by Abel Chapman. .. With 248 illustrations, chiefly from rough sketches by the author. London [etc.]: Gurney and Jackson, 1921. url p. 388, p. 390, p. 399.
• Sea-birds: an introduction to the natural history of the sea-birds of the North Atlantic / by James Fisher and R. M. Lockley. Boston: Houghton, Mifflin, 1954. url p. 316.
• Smithsonian miscellaneous collections. 151 1966 Washington: Smithsonian Institution, 1862-1968. url p. 21.
• The Magazine of natural history / conducted by Edward Charlesworth. [S.l.: s.n.], url p. 47.
• Transactions of the Zoological Society of London. [London]: Published for the Zoological Society of London by Academic Press url p. 302.
• World Checklist of Threatened Birds Joint Nature Conservation Committee url p. 84, p. 84.

Notes

Contributors

• BirdLife International 2006. In IUCN 2008. 2008 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCNRedList.org. Downloaded July 18, 2008.
• BirdLife International 2010. Larus leucophthalmus. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloadedon 01February2012.
• Bisby, F.A., Y.R. Roskov, M.A. Ruggiero, T.M. Orrell, L.E. Paglinawan, P.W. Brewer, N. Bailly, J. van Hertum, eds (2007). Species 2000 and ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2007 Annual Checklist. Species 2000: Reading, U.K.
• Brands, S.J. (comp.) 1989-present. The Taxonomicon. Universal Taxonomic Services, Zwaag, The Netherlands. Accessed January 9, 2012.
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility. Accessed March 11, 2008. http://www.gbif.org Mediated distribution data from 2 providers.
• IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. . Downloaded on January 28, 2012.
• Peterson, Alan P. Zoological Nomenclature Resource. Accessed June 19, 2009.
• Ruggiero M., Gordon D., Bailly N., Kirk P., Nicolson D. (2011). The Catalogue of Life Taxonomic Classification, Edition 2, Part A. In: Species 2000 & ITIS Catalogue of Life: 2011 Annual Checklist (Bisby F.A., Roskov Y.R., Orrell T.M., Nicolson D., Paglinawan L.E., Bailly N., Kirk P.M., Bourgoin T., Baillargeon G., Ouvrard D., eds). DVD; Species 2000: Reading, UK.

Data Sources

Accessed through GBIF Data Portal March 11, 2008:

• Israel Nature and Parks Authority
• University of Michigan Museum of Zoology (UMMZ): Bird specimens

Identifiers

• Biodiversity Heritage Library NamebankID: 8321
• Catalogue of Life Accepted Name Code: ITS-176856
• Global Biodiversity Information Facility Taxonkey: 13747438
• Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) Taxonomic Serial Number (TSN): 176856
• IUCN ID: 218215
• Zipcode Zoo Species Identifier: 2268

Footnotes

1. BirdLife International 2010. Larus leucophthalmus. In: IUCN 2011. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2011.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 01 February 2012. ... [back]

©2004-2012 David Stang. All rights reserved.